DNA sample: Law enforcement officers may now read out eye and hair color
Since August 1, a new tool has been available to law enforcement authorities in Switzerland: DNA phenotyping expands the spectrum of forensic search and investigation options. DNA traces from a crime scene can now be used to read out external characteristics of the person who left the traces.
Forensic DNA analysis plays a central role in solving crimes: it can provide law enforcement authorities with important clues in identifying a suspected perpetrator, as the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) emphasizes. However, comparing the DNA trace from the crime scene or the crime weapon with the DNA profile database does not always yield a hit - namely when the DNA profile of the person being sought is not contained in the Swiss database. Since August 1, law enforcement authorities have been able to take a decisive step further in solving serious crimes, according to the Fedpol.
With the entry into force of the revised DNA profile law, DNA phenotyping can now be used under certain conditions. Up to now, DNA analysis has only been used to create a DNA profile and thus provide information on the gender of the person who laid the trace, according to the media release. Now, the following externally visible characteristics can be read from the coding DNA sections of a trace with a certain probability: Eye, hair and skin color, biogeographical origin and the age of a tracker.
The track takes "shape
If, in the initial phase of an investigation, conventional means provide little or no meaningful information about the perpetrator, phenotyping can provide new, important insights for law enforcement agencies: it allows the police to narrow down the circle of suspects and to focus the investigation. It could also help them better classify statements made by victims or witnesses. Thanks to phenotyping, the police can, for example, assume with a certain degree of probability that the crime scene evidence is likely to come from a brown-haired man of Western European origin with green eyes, aged about 45. Findings from phenotyping could also help solve crimes that occurred far in the past - so-called "cold cases" - and give new impetus to the search for the perpetrator, the Fedpol writes.
An important element - but not the only one
DNA analysis alone would not solve crimes. Direct "hits" when matching a DNA trace from the crime scene with the DNA database CODISThe results of the phenotyping or the search for a relationship are not proof that the person who laid the traces is also the perpetrator. The questioning of victims, witnesses and suspects and the examination of their statements, along with numerous other measures, are still central elements in criminal proceedings for the investigation of a suspected perpetrator. The decisive clue, however, could be provided by the extended DNA analysis.
